Spring cushion structure



July 21, 1936.

H. W. STERNBERG SPRING CUSHION STRUCTURE Filed April 24, 1934 INVENTOR'HUOT W. STERNBERG ATTORNEY:

Patented July 21, 1936 SPRING CUSHION STRUCTURE Huot W. Sternberg,Westport, Conn., assignor to The Owen Silent Spring Company,

Inc.,

Bridgeport, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application April 24,1934, Serial No. 722,091

5 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in upholstered chairs,settees and the like and more particularly to spring cushioned backs forthe same.

Thereis a tendency for the springs in seatback cushions to sag in use orto be displaced upwardly when the occupant of the chair bears his weightagainst the back of the seat. This results in discomfort and also intime mars the appearance of the back cushion because it tends to take apermanent sag.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome this difiiculty byproviding a spring structure which will retain its position againstdisplacement vertically.

A common spring filling for a seat-back cushion consists of a unitcomprising a series of springs clipped together. This unit is commonlysecured to a support at the rear side of the cushion, while the forwardside is free; hence the tendency for the forward part of the cushion tosag.

It is an object of my invention to provide a support for the forwardface of the spring unit which is substantially unyieldable to verticalthrusts but is readily yieldable to transverse forces.

A more specific object of my invention is to provide a spring unit withvertical tie wires which at the forward face of the unit extenddownwardly and are attached to the bottom rail of the seat-back. Thisprovides a support against vertical displacement of the unit either upor down and yet does not destroy the resiliency of the cushion as aWhole.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear in thefollowing description of a preferred embodiment and the novelty andscope of the invention will thereafter be pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing;

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of an arm chair embodying myinvention with the back of the chair in section so as to disclose theinner spring structure; and

Fig. 2 is a view in section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

In the drawing, I have used the reference numeral II) to indicate ingeneral the back of the arm chair. This back comprises a pair of sideframe members I I connected by a top rail I2 and a bottom rail I3. Aspring unit is supported on this frame and comprises a series of coilsprings I4 which are clipped together in horizontally spaced rows withvertically disposed tie wires connecting the rows together. The tiewires at the rear of the spring unit are indicated by the referencenumeral I5 and the forward tie wires I 6 have extensions I'I below thesprings. These extensions are stapled, as indicated at I8, to the bottomrail I3. The spring unit is supported at .5

the rear by staples I9 connecting the top row of springs to the top railI2 and strips of webbing 20 extend from the top rail to the bottom railand also horizontally from one side frame member II to the other. Asuitable padding 2| is 10 placed over the spring unit and a suitablecover 22 of leather, fabric or the like, encloses the entire cushion.

In operation it will be found that the extensions I'Iwill prevent thecushion from sagging 15 and will maintain it against upward as well asdownward displacement. Because of the length and resiliency of theextensions II, the resiliency of the cushion will be maintained in spiteof the fact that these extensions are stapled at their 20 lower ends tothe bottom rail. It will be noted that these extensions are curvedtoward the rear of the chair back so that they will yield resiliently tovertical thrusts, but such yielding is comparatively slight.

While I have described this invention as applied to an arm chair it willbe understood that it may be applied equally well to other forms ofseats having cushion backs. It will be understood, therefore, that theembodiment described above is to be taken as illustrative and notlimitative of my invention and I reserve the right to make variouschanges in form, construction, and arrangement of parts withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the following claims. 35

I claim:

1. A chair-back structure of the character described comprising a frameformed of a pair of side members with a top rail and a bottom railconnecting the same, strips of webbing extending from one frame memberto the other and from one rail to the other, a spring unit bearingagainst the frame and webbing strips, said bottom rail extendingforwardly under said unit, said unit comprising horizontal rows of coilsprings and vertical tie wires connecting the rows at the forward andthe rear faces of the unit, the rear ends of the top row of springsbeing secured to the top rail, the tie wires on the forward face of theunit extending downwardly and fixed to the forward edge of the bottomrail, but being free at their upper ends so as not to hinder freefiexure on the upper ends of the unit, and a padded covering over theunit secured to said frame.

2. A seat-back structure of the character described, comprising a seriesof coil springs fastened together in a unit, a support aga1nst which therear face of the unit bears, said support including a bottom railextending forwardly under the unit, said unit including struts extendingdownwardly from the forward face thereof, said struts being securedtoand having a thrustibearing on said bottom rail but being. free at theirupper ends so as not to hinder free fiexure of the upper end of theunit, and a padded covering fitted over the unit and secured to thesupport.

3. A seat-back structure of the character described, comprising a seriesof coil. springs fastened together in a unit, a support against whichthe rear face of the unit bears; said support including a bottom railextending forwardly under the unit but of less thicknessthan theunithisaid unit including struts extending downwardly from the forwardface thereof, said struts being b'entl rearwardly at their lower endsand fixed to the bottom-rail but being'free at their upper ends so asnot to hinder free fiexure' of' the upper end of the unit, and a padded"covering fitted over the unit and secure'dto the su-pport.

4. A chair-back structure-of'thecharacter described, comprising asupporting frame, a spring unit supported thereon, said unit comprisinga series of coil springs disposed in horizontally spaced rows andvertically disposed tiewires connecting the rows at the rear and frontfaces to the unit, eachv tie wire being fitted between an adjacent pairof springs in each row, and clips securing the adjacent pairs of springsto each other and to the tie wires; the tie wires at the rear face ofthe unit being secured at opposite ends thereof tov the support, saidsupport being formed with a forwardly extending bottom rail, the tiewires at the front face of the unit being free at their upper ends butbeing fixed at their lower ends to said bottom rail so as to serve asstruts for" supporting the forward face of the unit against sagging, anda padded covering for the unit secured to said support.

5-.v A seat back structure of the character described, comprising aseries of coil springs fastended together in a unit, a support againstwhich the rear face of the unit bears, said support also extendingforwardly under the unit, struts extending downwardly from the forwardface of the 20 perends so asnot to hinder free flexure of the 25 upperend of the unit, and a padded covering fitted over the unit.

HUOT W. STERNBERG.

